January 16, 2011 Meeting Notes
From: Charles Gessner W3ON, 'Acting Secretary'
The January 16, 2011 meeting of the Western Pennsylvania Repeater
Council 'WPRC', started at 1:30 pm ET. It was held at the
Thanks to Paul Plants N3WMV and Sam Mayberry W3CYO for providing
the meeting location and refreshments.
Acting Chairman Denny McElhaney N3EJY announced that due to the
resignations of three of the former officers of WPRC that he had appointed an
emergency BOD to replace the missing officers.
Those temporary positions would expire after a new board of directors
was elected. Those appointed were: Joe
McElhaney KR3P as vice chairman, and Chuck Gessner W3ON as secretary.
WPRC Board of Directors members present were: Denny McElhaney
N3EJY (acting chairman), Chuck Gessner W3ON (acting secretary), Joe McElhaney
KR3P (acting vice chairman and frequency coordinator), and Paul Plants N3WMV
(assistant frequency coordinator).
Attendance
Roster: (M=WPRC
Member /R=Repeater G=Guest)
There were 10 WPRC members and 4 guests in attendance including:
Joe McElhaney KR3P (M) 146.97 N1RS/R, Denny McElhaney N3EJY (M) 444.900 N1RS/R, Sam Mayberry W3CYO (M)
145.49 W3CYO/R, Paul Bidzilya AB3PJ (M) 443.600
AB3PJ/R,
Bill Kristoff N3BPB (M) 147.09 W3EXW/R, Paul Plants
N3WMV (M) 442.125 N3WMV/R, Chuck Gessner W3ON (M)
147.12 W3OC/R, Ken Johnson N3OVP 51.980 N3OVP/R, Sandy Johnson N3QWW (M) 147.270
N3QWW/R, Monte Costa WB3CCN (M) 442.700 N3OVP/R, Bud Plants N3TIR (G), Toni McElhaney (G), and Bill Steffey
NY9H (G), and Ron Lape K3MI (G).
Resignations:
Denny N3EJY (acting chairman) announced the recent resignations of three of the
former WPRC BOD members. Those who
resigned were:
Dave Crise N3GPM as chairman (October 16, 2010)
Phil Heck KE3EI as vice chairman (January 4, 2011)
Barry Troutman N3TNA as secretary (January 5, 2011).
All resignations were received as emails sent to the BOD and some
WPRC members. Joe KR3P (acting vice chairman) read all three emails to all of
those present. Denny N3EJY also
announced that no official meetings have been held since the April 2010 meeting
due to:
JULY 2010
meeting - cancelled due to a lack of a quorum. Also, the last minute canceling
of the meeting location.
OCTOBER
2010 Annual Meeting - was an unofficial meeting
due to a lack of a quorum. No election
of officers was held as required by the WPRC Constitution.
Discussion was held with the BOD and those present regarding the reasons for
the resignations. Mentioned in the
emails were lack of interest by WPRC members, lack of quorums by members and
BOD members, timely processing of paper work, meeting scheduling, high transportation
costs to and from the meetings, philosophical reasons between BOD members, etc.
Bill N3BPB asked a question as to 'What is the plan for moving
forward'. Denny N3EJY (acting chairman)
stated that a new board of directors election would be conducted at this
meeting to replace those who had resigned per the Constitution.
OLD
BUSINESS:
Secretary’s Report was not available.
OLD BUISINESS (cont)
Treasurers Report:
Denny N3EJY (former treasurer) reported the following balances:
Ending Balance (July 18, 2010): $ 1722.14
Income from donations: $ 30.00
Total Receipts: $1752.14
Disbursements: None
Total Disbursements: None
Balance (October 17, 2010) $ 1752.14
Certificate of Deposit (5/11) $ 1048.24
Motion To Accept "MTA": Paul
AB3PJ. 2nd: Paul N3WMV. Motion passed on voice vote.
Frequency Coordinators Report:
Frequency Coordinator Joe McElhaney KR3P reported:
Since Last Meeting: 2010
YTE: 2011
YTD:
=====================================================================
20 items acted on 90
items acted on 04
items acted on
11 Final Coordination’s 41 Final Coordination’s 01
Final Coordination
(04 WPA/07 Other) (14
WPA/27 Other) (01
WPA/00 Other)
00 Initial Coordination’s 08 Initial Coordination’s 01
Initial Coordination’s
00 Proposed Coordination’s 03
Proposed Coordination’s 02 Proposed
Coordination’s
07 Voided (04 Out of State) 23
Voided (13 Out of State) 02 Voided
(00 Out of State)
02 On The Air Received 05 On The Air Received 00
On The Air Received
00 Denied (00 Out of State) 10
Denied 00
Denied (00 Out of State)
=====================================================================
As of January 16, 2011 (Today) TOTAL
REPEATERS COORDINATED:
All items received have been acted upon YTD
11 01
All items processed within 1 week: 10
41
New data submitted for website. 09
57
ARRL Repeater Directory Submitted. 08 97 (3rd highest year)
07
137 (new record-40% over
previous record)
06
75
05
84
04
53
03
95
02
99
01
37
00
52
99
93
98
82 (177 W/OH backlog)
97
81
96
23
95
26
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MTA: Paul AB3PJ. 2nd: Paul N3WMV. Passed on
voice vote.
NEW
BUSINESS:
Forced Transfer of Trusteeship:
From KE3ED for BVARA repeaters 145.31 and 442.975 Mhz.
This action was caused by an email from BVARA club president KZ3Z regarding an
attempt to update the trusteeship due to a change in trustee several years ago.
FC KR3P reported that this could not be done without the approval of current
trustee KE3ED, as he is the trustee of record for those coordinations. FC KR3P suggested that the change be a
"forced transfer" to reflect the current holder of the BVARA club
call W3SGJ. KR3P asked for forced
transfer from KE3ED to W3SGJ. A brief discussion was held. MTA: N3BPB. 2nd:W3CYO. Passed on voice vote.
Noted: Denny N3EJY (acting chairman)
stated that radio clubs should consider the option using the current holder of a club call to prevent problems
where a trustee is no longer involved with a repeater coordination. FC KR3P
mentioned that the coordination secondary trustee can be the holder of a club
call such as BVARA's W3SGJ.
Denny N3EJY further mentioned that it was important to keep your current
amateur radio license address up to date and on file with the FCC, as WPRC uses
the FCC addresses to keep in touch with repeater trustees.
Ron K3MI commented on this as it could effect a coordination application that
he is working on.
Reinstatement of Propagation Study
Software For Frequency Coordination Studies:
FC KR3P requested the reinstatement of Coordination Policies 7c and 7d, to
re-enable repeater frequency coordination studies using computer repeater
propagation software. FC KR3P reported
that using this process had stopped last January. FC KR3P reported that all repeater
coordinations at present were using distance only calculations between
repeaters on the main frequency channel and adjacent frequency channels.
A discussion ensued between FC KR3P, Sam W3CYO, Paul N3WMV, and members of the
audience, regarding these studies. FC
KR3P suggested that using the studies could make it possible for some newly
requested coordinations to coexist, as using a
distance calculation would not allow this action.
MTA: Paul AB3PJ. 2nd: Paul N3WMV. Passed on voice vote
Constitution Change:
Note requires two readings before it can be brought up for a vote.
Remove Section 6c "Duties of the Vice-Chairman"
which states "He shall work directly
with the Frequency Coordinator on all frequency recommendations."
FC KR3P noted that no
frequency recommendations had been made in the last 20 years, and that none
would be since WPRC’s policy is to approve requests
and not make recommendations.
A lively discussion was
held between those present as to changing the wording. Ultimately all present decided that it should
be removed. MTA: Sam W3CYO. 2nd:
Paul N3WMV. Passed on voice vote.
Election Of
Officers:
An election was held to replace officers on the WPRC board of directors.
Chairman: Denny McElhaney N3EJY was nominated. MTA: Sam W3CYO. 2nd:
Joe KR3P.
Vice Chairman: Paul Plants N3WMV was nominated. MTA: Denny N3EJY. 2nd: Bill N3BPB
Secretary: Paul Bidzilya
AB3PJ was nominated. MTA: Bill N3BPB. 2nd:
Ken N3OVP.
Chuck
Gessner W3ON was nominated. MTA: Joe KR3P. 2nd: Denny
N3EJY.
Note:
Bill N3BPB was asked to conduct a secret ballot for the secretary's
position. Bill completed this task.
Result: Paul Bidzlya AB3PJ was elected as the new WPRC Secretary.
Treasurer: Chuck Gessner
W3ON was nominated. MTA: Bill N3BPB. 2nd:
Ken N3OVP.
Motion was made by Sam W3CYO and 2nd by Denny N3EJY for the acting
secretary to cast the ballot for those running unopposed. Motion passed on voice vote.
Acting Secretary W3ON cast the vote for those unopposed nominations.
2011 Dues Structure:
After a short discussion it was decided to keep the 2011 dues structure
at the $15 per represented repeater.
MTA: Paul N3WMV. 2nd: Ken N3OVP. Passed on
voice vote.
2011 Meeting Locations:
After some discussion between the BOD and the audience regarding meeting
locations, it was decided that meetings for 2011 would be held in the following
locations (subject to availability)
APRIL 17, 2011 -- Mercer Pa -- 130 pm
JULY 17, 2011 -- Somerset Pa
Hamfest or Ebensburg Pa
MTA: Joe KR3P. 2nd: Ken N3OVP. Passed on voice vote.
October 16, 2011 -- Annual Meeting & Election of Officers
--
January 15, 2012 -- Washington, Pa MTA:
Sam W3CYO. 2nd: Paul AB3PJ. Passed on voice vote.
New Members:
No new membership applications were presented.
Adjournment:
Paul AB3PJ voiced a motion to adjourn the meeting. This was seconded by Ken
N3OVP. This motion was passed on a voice vote. Chairman Denny N3EJY adjourned the
meeting at 324 pm ET.
Respectfully submitted by:
Charles 'Chuck' Gessner W3ON
Acting Secretary
Note that these notes are unofficial and
are subject to review. They do not become official until voted on at
the next WPRC meeting.